Page 18 of More Than Words (Trickle Creek: The Lyons #2)

Chapter Fourteen

Delaney

T he chocolate chip, salted caramel cookies smelled so good as I pulled them from the oven, I was tempted to keep a few for myself. Ultimately, I gave in to “taste testing” one of them before putting the rest of the mostly cooled treats into a container and taking them next door.

Ethan looked up from behind the counter, a white bar towel slung over his shoulder and his hair a little messy as if he’d already run his hands through it a hundred times. The scruff of his beard that he’d been growing was getting thicker—and sexier.

I swallowed down the surge of desire that arose just from setting eyes on him.

His eyes lit up when he saw me, his own desire reflected back at me. “Hey, neighbor.” He greeted me innocently, his eyes darting to his left, where I saw Quinn sitting with headphones on, doing homework.

I smiled in response and lifted the container of cookies.

“You didn’t?” He moved around the counter to greet me, wiping his hands on the towel. He stopped just before pulling me into a hug.

“I did.”

“That was a joke,” he said. “I was just going to make popcorn or grab some pretzels or something.”

“Hey, you said you were in charge of snacks for movie night but didn’t have time to do anything good. So I thought I’d help. Snack duty is a very serious thing.”

I moved past him and set the cookies on the counter. Keeping distance from Ethan, when all I wanted to do was rush into his arms and press a kiss on his lips, was probably the safest move.

Quinn lifted her head from her book, her nose twitching; her eyes wide, as she pulled the headphones off her ears. “Cookies?”

I nodded.

“ Homemade cookies?”

I nodded again, my grin taking over my face.

“I mean, I’ve heard about people who make cookies, but…” She lifted a corner of the lid, but Ethan pressed it down again. “Hey!”

“Those are for movie night.”

“No fair.”

I laughed. “You should probably try one before committing to them as your snack choice.”

“Yeah.” Quinn stuck out her tongue at her dad playfully. “What she said.”

Ethan shook his head with a laugh but let it go.

I watched as she took a bite of the cookie.

Her eyes rolled back in her head, and she groaned dramatically. “These are amazing. Forget the movie. I just want to eat cookies.”

“No deal.” Ethan snatched up the box and stashed it behind the bar. “I’ve been looking forward to Barbie all day.”

I raised my eyebrows.

“You have not,” Quinn said. “But it’s so good.”

“It is good,” I backed her up. “I think you’ll like it, Ethan.”

He shot me a look, and it was my turn to stick out my tongue at him.

“Are you coming tonight, bookstore lady?”

“It’s Delaney.”

“I know,” Quinn told her father before grinning at me.

I winked.

I liked that she had a nickname for me. And Quinn seemed to enjoy how it made her dad a little crazy.

For a twelve-year-old, that was probably a big win.

“If you know,” Ethan reprimanded, “you should use it.”

“Anyway,” Quinn said, ignoring him. “Are you coming tonight?”

“To movie night?”

The question took me off guard. Ethan had explained how movie night was their special father-daughter activity. He didn’t have to come right out and say it for me to see how special it was to him. And considering I was just supposed to be his neighbor and friend and nothing more…

“I don’t think?—”

“That’s very nice?—”

Ethan and I spoke at the same time.

Quinn raised her eyebrows and looked between us.

I cleared my throat and spoke first. “Thanks for the invite, Quinn. That’s sweet. But my night is totally booked already.”

“It is?” Ethan stared at me.

Again, Quinn gave us each a look.

I focused on her before I could think too much more about it. “It is,” I told her. “I need to start dragging all my Christmas decorations out of storage so I can start putting them up.”

She perked up. “Like in the store?”

I nodded. “You bet.”

“The whole store?”

“Every single corner.” I smiled. “Lights, pine boughs, a window display, and…well, basically everything you can think of.”

“Candy canes?”

“Obviously.”

“Gingerbread houses?”

“Of course.”

“A tree?”

I just gave her a “duh” look.

“What about?—”

“Isn’t it a little early for Christmas decorations?”

Both Quinn and I spun and stared in abject horror at her father.

“Early?”

“Never.”

We both laughed, and he shook his head.

“I love Christmas,” I said when I’d recovered enough. “And to be honest, it’s the biggest sales season for me. I feel like I show enough restraint waiting until the start of November, to be honest.”

“Fair enough.” Ethan shrugged. “Maybe I should do a festive brew?”

“You totally should, Dad. Maybe a candy cane flavor.”

Ethan’s eyes grew wide, and he shook his head. “I should be glad you don’t know anything about beer at your age, kiddo. But…no. That would be horrible.”

“Whatever. I think it would be good.”

I tried not to laugh. They really did have the cutest dynamic.

“I’m so jealous that you’re decorating so early,” Quinn said to me. “Dad won’t let us put up decorations until December first.”

“At the earliest,” Ethan said.

“You could help me, if you like?” I extended the invitation without a second thought. “It’ll be fun. We can put carols on and everything.”

“Really?” Quinn jumped up from her stool. “Yes. Please. Can I, Dad?”

Ethan leaned back on the bar, looking between us. “I mean, only if I can help, too.”

Quinn blinked at her father as if she didn’t recognize him. “You want to decorate for Christmas? Like voluntarily?”

He shrugged. “Someone needs to hang the lights from the ceiling.”

I swallowed back the urge to let him know that I’d been able to do that just fine on my own for years. Truthfully, having them both help me decorate would be fun.

The look Quinn gave her father was equal parts suspicious and surprised. “You hate all the twinkling lights.”

“I never said I hated them,” he said. “Besides, maybe I’ve evolved.”

Quinn looked at me again, and then back at her father, as if trying to work out a problem. Finally, she shrugged. “Okay, but I get to put the angel on the tree.”

“Deal.” I smiled. “Only it’s a star, made from old book pages.”

She clapped in delight and gave me an impulsive hug.

I squeezed my eyes shut against the wave of emotions that took me off guard and hit too hard, because this was starting to feel dangerously close to something that could be very real.

Ethan

“So what’s up with you and bookstore lady?”

I almost choked on a piece of chocolate chip, salted caramel cookie, but somehow managed to recover.

“Delaney,” I corrected Quinn, careful to keep my voice even.

“That’s what I said.” She rolled her eyes and tucked her legs up under her on the couch. On the screen, there was some sort of dance number about how Ken was enough that I pretended I was deeply interested in. “So,” she said, pushing the issue. “What’s the deal with you two?”

I sighed and sat back on the couch. I knew my daughter well enough to know when she wasn’t going to let something go. Truthfully, I was surprised it had taken her so long to bring it up. I hadn’t missed the suspicious looks she’d been giving Delaney and me at the brewery earlier.

“There’s no deal.”

“I thought we didn’t lie to each other.”

I blinked. It wasn’t technically a lie. Truthfully, Delaney and I hadn’t discussed what it was between the two of us.

Still, my daughter was sharp.

“It’s not a lie,” I answered truthfully.

Not surprisingly, Quinn wasn’t satisfied with the answer. I couldn’t blame her.

“Dad,” she groaned and sat up, twisting her body away from the screen so she faced me head-on.

“I’m not a little kid anymore. You can tell me what’s going on.

” Before I could say anything else, she continued.

“And I’m not one of those kids who’re secretly hoping their parents get back together so they can have a big, happy familyChristmas or something. ”

“You’re not?” I grinned.

Quinn tossed a pillow in my direction. “You know I’m not, Dad.” Her voice dropped when she added, “I know you and Mom…well, I see how different it is now.”

Something about the tone in her voice stopped me. “You do?”

She nodded. “You’re a lot happier in Trickle Creek. You smile more.”

“I do?”

“And you laugh a lot.” Quinn nodded again. “With Delaney.”

Her observation, and the fact that she used Delaney’s name, took me off guard. But she wasn’t wrong. I did smile and laugh a lot with Delaney.

Before I could contribute to the conversation, Quinn continued. “Which is why I want to know what’s going on between you guys. Are you dating?”

I choked on my soda.

“You like her.”

“Is that a question?”

She shrugged.

I took a moment to gather my thoughts. Quinn was only twelve. But in so many ways, she was mature for her age. She’d been through so much already. She’d lost more than she even knew. And she’d just asked me a question that meant way more than it sounded.

She deserved the truth.

I inhaled a deep breath. “Yeah,” I answered honestly. “I do.”

She nodded and pulled her blanket up under her chin. “Good,” she said. “I do, too.”

I waited for her to elaborate, but she simply turned back to the movie. For a few minutes, we were both lost in the drama playing out between Barbie and Ken on the screen.

Quinn and Delaney were right. It was a pretty good movie. Not that I was ready to admit it. Especially considering I was no longer paying any attention to it. Instead, my conversation with Quinn replayed over and over in my head.

Finally, I turned to her. “You like Delaney, too?”

Quinn blew out an exasperated breath, but she was smiling when she turned to me. “You know I do. She’s not fake, like a lot of grown-ups. She actually listens to me, and she recommends really good books.”

I didn’t bother to hide my smile.

“That and the cookies, of course.” She reached for the container. Against my better judgment, I let her take another. “It was nice of her to make those for you.” She wiggled her eyebrows and gave me a look that was definitely too old for her.

“What are you trying to say?”

Quinn shrugged and took a big bite of the cookie. “I don’t know anyone else making you cookies just ’cause.”

Fair enough.

“Look,” I said after a moment. “You know that you and me…we’re a team.”

She nodded.

“And I really value that, Quinn.” I had to tread carefully. If I got too serious with it, she’d shut down. “So I want to make sure I keep you in the loop, just like always.”

“Like telling me all the things?”

I shook my head. “Age-appropriate honesty, remember?”

She groaned, and I chuckled. It was something I’d started saying to her when Polly and I were in the thick of things with our divorce.

Quinn wanted to know what was going on, and I’d promised to never lie to her.

But I’d also prefaced that by letting her know I’d give her one hundred percent age-appropriate honesty and some things she wasn’t old enough to know yet.

She hadn’t been thrilled by the idea, but she’d accepted it.

“And the truth is, I didn’t tell you what was going on with Delaney right away, because I wasn’t sure myself and I didn’t want to confuse you or get your hopes up that?—”

“But you like her?”

I nodded.

“She likes you.” I tilted my head in question, but she only rolled her eyes. “You know she does, Dad.”

Okay. Fair.

“You’re allowed to like someone,” Quinn said. “But maybe don’t overthink it so much, okay? And really, let’s not pretend I’m some stupid little kid who can’t see what’s in front of my face.” She shot me a look.

“Deal.”

She smiled and turned back toward the screen again.

“I knew it,” she muttered under her breath.

“What’s that?”

“Dad! Watch the movie. This is a good part.”